No More Secrets

TEN | hide-and-go-seek

Just then, Dex returned from the shower, interrupting their friendly bickering. "Oh, hi Dex!" Sophie said. She turned to Biana."So, while Dex was showering, I was thinking that we really need to play hide-and-go-seek since your house is so big," Sophie said.

"What's that?' Tam asked in confusion.

"Well, I haven't played it in forever," Sophie responded, "but everyone except for one person will find a hiding spot and hide in it. The other person-that's the 'seeker' will count to whatever number we give them, and, when the time is up, they will say 'Ready or not, here I come!' and try to find everyone. The last person still hiding is the next seeker. No going into Alden's office, or above the third floor. Hiding outside is off-limits."

"Oh, okay. Who is going to be the seeker?" Tam asked.

Keefe jumped in. "It can't be Fitz or Biana, because they know all the good hiding spots where everyone will go."

Linh raised her hand eagerly. "I'll do it!" she said. "What number do you want me to count to?"

"Three hundred forty-eight!" Keefe said. "That'll make up for the HUGE house you have."

"That's a really random number, but okay," Linh said. She started to count. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5..." Everyone ran off in different directions: Dex, to the closet on the 3rd floor; Biana sprinted to her bedroom; Tam half-jogged,half-walked to the kitchen, Keefe strolled leisurely to Fitz's bedroom, only to find the dark-haired boy crouching under his bed. Keefe tsked. "Really, Fitz, I expected better. Under the bed? So cliché. She'll find you in an instant." He walked away, to the bathroom, and hid in the bathtub,

Fitz crept out from under his bed. "Come on, Sophie!" he whispered to the girl hidden in the closet, "You can come out now!"

"Coming!" Sophie whispered back, appearing from the closet. She grabbed Fitz's hand, and dragging Fitz with her, ran to a bathroom different from the one Keefe was hiding in, and locked the door.

"Isn't that cheating?" Fitz asked.

"I didn't say that in the rules, did I?" Sophie said satisfactorily.

"You sneaky little...." Fitz said, laughing.

"346, 347, 348! Ready or not, here I come!" Linh exclaimed. She bolted up the stairs. I'll start at the top, and work my way down, she thought. She checked the whole 3rd floor, (minus the cleverly hidden closet Dex was squished inside of), and decided to move down. On the second floor, she found Keefe almost immediately.

"Aw, how'd you find me so fast?" he complained good-naturedly.

Linh sighed, partly in relief, because he seemed to not hold any hard feelings towards her because of the....rather awkward conversation a few days earlier. "Uh, maybe because you were just staring at the mirror? Also, why is your hair purple?" she replied.

"Well, I was originally hiding in the bathtub, but then I noticed the GIGANTIC stash of elixirs on the counter. I just HAD to try this one, and voilá: here I am," Keefe answered.

"Enough talking-let's go find the others," Linh said.

They found Tam next, (he was nearly stuck in the tall, empty closet), then, after much searching, found Biana, hidden under her sparkly purple bedskirt. Dex was the next to be discovered, cleverly hidden behind the spare capes kept in the closet. This left only Sophie and Fitz to be found. The entire house was searched, the 5 searching splitting up to cover more area at one time. Every closet was rifled through, every room carefully inspected, till they returned to the main room, almost about to give up, when Biana remembered something.

"You know," she said," there was this one bathroom that had the door locked. Maybe one of them were in there?"

"Good thinking!" Linh said. "Let's go!"

They all rushed to the bathroom Biana pointed out, knocked, and heard Della's voice saying, "Yes? Who is it?"

"You sneaky little..." said Fitz, laughing. "Come here," he said, pulling his girlfriend in for a kiss. After a moment, they broke apart, breathless. Just then, they heard a knock on the bathroom door. Thinking fast, Sophie mimicked Della's voice saying, "Yes? Who is it?"

They heard someone sigh outside. It was Biana. "Nothing, mom."Sorry, guys. I thought they were here for sure."

The couple waited until they heard the footsteps fade away. Then, they burst out laughing. "I never knew you could mimic so well!" said Fitz in between laughs.

"Yeah, well those linguistics sessions really paid off," responded Sophie shyly.

"They really did," Fitz answered. "Do you think we're the only ones left?"

"Maybe," said Sophie. "It sure sounded like all of them were out there."

Fitz agreed, then smirked. "Now that they're gone, shall we continue?"

Sophie smiled. "You mean this?" she asked, tilting her head up and kissed him

After roughly 3 minutes, the door unlocked, and Keefe, poking his head in, exclaimed, "Ha! I knew it wasn't Del-WAIT WHAT DID I WALK IN ON EW YOU GUYS-"

Fitz clapped his hand over his best friend's mouth before he could go on.

Biana rolled her eyes. "Cheaters," she said in mock disapproval.

Sophie objected. "I never said no locking doors, did I?" she asked.

"Fine," Biana replied.

"How did you know it was us, anyways?" Sophie asked inquisitively.

"Mom-Della-is gone. She's shopping in Atlantis," answered Biana smugly.

Fitz smacked his head. "Oh yeah! Ugh, I forgot," he said, turning to Sophie. "Sorry," he said.

After a few more minutes, Alden poked his head in. "Are you guys still up?" he asked. "It's past one," he said.

"Seriously?" said Keefe. "Nice!"

The gang decided to get ready for bed and split up to get ready-the girls went to Biana's bedroom, and the boys to Fitz's. After brushing their teeth and changing into their pajamas, they gathered in Alvar's room.

"So," said Dex. "What now?"

"Now, we sleep," answered Tam.

"Wait, what? Sleep? You gotta be kidding me," Keefe said.

"No, we're not," answered everyone else.

"You guys are LAME. I mean, who actually sleeps at sleepovers?" Keefe groaned.

Everyone raised their hand. "We do," they said.

After some debating about the benefits of actually SLEEPING at sleepovers, everyone, including a reluctant Keefe, decided to go to bed. Crawling into their respective sleeping bags, they fell asleep.

again, didn't change a whole lot in this chapter. you know the drill by now, if you see errors, tell me :) thanks for reading! love you.